Das Boot

You know how it goes. You've just gone through another rough Ofsted and you're hip deep in a painting project that you can't see the end of. You want an easy win.

As part of the recovered stuff from Grandad Er Indoors loft, I found this:

A starter set. Perfect. Something I could build and paint in one evening as an antidote to the stress and  hassle of the week. Here, then, in my record of my relaxing build of  Das Boot.

The kit itself looks ok. Indeed, construction of the hull and flying bridge goes quite smoothly.  Then we come to the propellor and planes assembly. 

Yeesh. Well, it's not too bad - I can sort of reason out in which order I'll have to do things so that I don't get in my own way. But what's this? Oh yes - the parts are TINY. 

Scalpel blade for scale against the propellor blades at the top of the sprue there. 

I end up having to utilise blue tack to create stands 

Then we come to putting in the deck guns. All you have to do is stick the pegs into the hull on the deck... Oh. 

Good job I had a drill, right? 

Finally we end up with a completed construction which, to be fair, looks pretty bloody good:

It's about at this point I notice this on the box and start laughing hollowly:

I believe the correct response is 'skill level one my ARSE'. 

Anyhoo, quick trip to the garage to undercoat and then painting. A very simple job of basecoat

Wash

 And then blended highlights. 

The supplied decals finish it off nicely:

Total time from cracking the box to finishing the decals for about 4 episodes of MASH on the TV, so call it 2 hours. Most of that was the bloody rear assembly:

So, batteries recharged and time to start on the rest of the Wars of the Roses chaps. 

Thanks as always for your kind attention. And remember - when it comes to Skill Levels Airfix speak with forked tongue.